


The Lost Child

by Light_It_On_Fire



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Attempted Child Sacrifice, Demons, Fictional Religion & Theology, M/M, Religion, Ritual Sacrifices, child!virgil, demon!virgil, human sacrifices, teen!Roman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:35:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24989926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Light_It_On_Fire/pseuds/Light_It_On_Fire
Summary: It all started with Roman saving a Demon child.It escalated rather quickly.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 88





	1. A Child, Stolen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was definitely not what Roman expected to find when he disobeyed his guardians, and snuck out at night. Oh, well. It could be worse.
> 
> Actually, no. No, it really couldn’t.

Roman had lived in the temple nearly his whole life. He had been dumped on the doorstep in the middle of one balmy summer night by his mother, nearly as soon as he had been weaned off her milk, and there he stayed. 

Roman wasn’t the only boy who lived there. There were others, teenagers and young men sent by their families to get a better education, but they rarely stayed for longer than a few years. 

It was a quiet life, a safe life. The temple was heavily protected. Shields and protective spells protected the building and its inhabitants from the eyes of Demons, and kept them from approaching. So there were never attacks, like there were in the nearby villages. 

This protection only extended a little ways into the woods, though. Roman wasn’t often let to leave the temple for that exact reason, unless it was just a quick trip to hunt. The priests told him that they cared too much for him for him to have him die at the hands of a Demon in the woods. 

Roman had only seen a Demon once. He had been thirteen, on one of his first solo trips into the woods.

He had only caught a glimpse of the creature, but could vividly remember his glowing eyes and sharp fangs flashing at him from just beyond the light cast by his torch. 

The priests, when he had come running back to the temple, had gone out to catch the creature, and try to purge it, but had been unable to find it. 

The priest had restricted movement to and from the temple for months afterward until they were sure that the creature was gone. Roman especially was not allowed to leave.

The restrictions had one exception, however. Every month, the priests took a trip into the woods. This was the exception. Nothing would stop the men from leaving, even though Roman told them he worried for them. They reassured him that the goddess would protect them those night.

After nightly prayers, they sent Roman and the other boys to their dorms, and left. No one knew what they did on those nights, and as far as Roman knew, none of the other boys had ever tried to follow their guardians into the woods. 

Roman, however, had always been more adventurous and curious than the other boys, ever since he had been a toddler. 

So one night of the full moon, after they had been sent to sleep, Roman waited until the rest of the boys had gone to sleep, and silently slipped out of his cot. 

He had tried the door first. To his shock, it was locked. Why would they lock them in? Did they not trust the children they had raised themselves? Well, Roman mused, seeing as he was currently trying to sneak out, it was probably reasonable of them.

Now even more determined to find out what was being hidden from him, Roman turned toward the window. The shutters were closed, but not locked, thankfully. The dormitory was on the second floor of the temple, but Roman was nothing if not resilient, and he made his way to the ground regardless. It _ might _ have helped that there was a tree right next to the window. 

The path into the woods was clear, having been traveled often. Roman himself had gone down it before, but had found nothing interesting at the end, just a semi-large clearing with protecting runes surrounding the clearing, warding away Demons and guarding the grove against their view. In the center of the clearing, there was a raised platform of dirt, but that was it.

Roman had asked one of the priests about it once, and the man had simply ruffled his hair and told him that he would learn if he decided to devote his life to their god. He had been annoyed by the non-answer, but had gotten the sense that it wasn’t a good topic to pry into.

He had only traveled for about fifteen minutes, keeping to the side of the path, and constantly ready to duck off to the side into the undergrowth if needed. Fortunately, he didn’t see anyone.

Eventually, he came up to where he could hear the men. The clearing had now had lit scones around the outer edge. The runes protecting the clearing from Demons were activated and glowing softly white under the moon. 

The dirt table in the middle of the clearing remained unchanged, besides a pile of rope off to the sides. It looked like the set up for a regular sacrifice. On the other side of the clearing, he could see a crate covered with cloth, that presumably held the sacrificial animal, which was usually a chicken, pig, or goat, although the crate looked large enough to hold a calf. 

What are they doing? If it was a routine sacrifice, why would they hide it from the children in their care? In fact, Roman and the other boys were often recruited to help with the sacrifice. Roman especially, since he had been raised in this life. He knew the most about what was expected of him at the ceremonies. 

As quietly as he could, he crept around to the other side of the clearing through the woods. Cautiously peering out from the brush, he could see that he was now much closer to the crate. Looking around, all of the priests seemed to be distracted, gathering around the platform in the middle clearing, paying no heed to the crate, or the boy crouched in the brush. 

Taking advantage of their distracted state, he dashed out from the bush and crouched behind the cage. He waited for a moment, but heard no outcry, and safely assumed that no one had seen him. 

Listening closely, he couldn’t hear any clucking or mooing from the crate, as he had expected. Instead, there were strange little snuffles every few seconds. 

It _ sounded _ like a crying child.

Quickly, Roman pulled up the cloth covering the crate, peeking into the dark space underneath. A lit torch behind him illuminated the scene in front of him very clearly, laying out exactly what was happening.

A small child was indeed sitting before him. Roman froze in shock, as did the kid, who was now staring back at him, terrified. The kid was maybe four, and Roman thought it looked like a boy, but he couldn’t tell. They had pale skin, and shoulder-length black hair. 

Most telling, though, were the dark purple horns that poked out of their hair, and the pointy ears that his hair was tucked behind. 

This was a demon child. In a crate. At a ritual sacrifice. Roman couldn't deny what was happening. The priests….

They were going to kill this innocent child.

And this child was no doubt innocent. The small horns and lack of markings confirmed that the demon was no more than four years old. The horns were barely grown in at all, only little nubbins, really. The markings Demons formed once the child hit demon-puberty were also missing. This was a child, who had most likely been ripped from their parents. 

Roman had been raised to hate Demons.

But he had also been raised to be honorable. 

And this was the farthest from honorable as one could get. 

At that moment, a hand landed on his shoulder, and yanked him back. The demon child in the crate let out a terrified squeak as he saw the robes of the priests surrounding the crate.

None of them seemed too shocked to see Roman. They told him that they had expected him to come to investigate eventually. 

Roman hardly listened to them, his blood roaring in his ears. 

He knew what he was going to do from nearly the moment he had laid eyes on the child. He couldn’t let them be killed. 

Now, all there was to do was figure out _ how _ to save them. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Roman: What do you have?!!?  
> The Priests: A child!  
> Roman: NO!


	2. A Child, Stolen and Returned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman steals a child, and then returns them. Not to the same people he stole them from, thankfully.

Roman shuddered at the shouts and threats he could hear and did his best to ignore them. 

The moment Roman had laid eyes on the child’s terrified expression, he’d known that he couldn’t just look away. The priests had always said he had a strong moral code, and that it would get him in trouble one day. Roman had never thought that it would get him in trouble with the very people who had taught him to have that strong moral code. The men who had raised him…

How could they have done this?

He had questioned them about what they had been planning to do to the child, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible so as not to draw suspicion. 

He had only received confirmation of what he already knew. They were planning on sacrificing this child. To ‘cleanse’ him. Roman refused to believe that their god would allow this. He refused to believe that they had done this before. Roman had never been raised to love Demons. Ever since he had been left at the temple's doorsteps for the priest to raise, all he had ever heard was how they were destructive and evil. 

But to think a child was evil just because they had been born was wrong. These people claimed to be holy and just, and yet there they were, treating this young child as though they were the highest of evil, simply for their demonic parentage. 

They were going to kill this child, all in the name of their god. 

It had disgusted and horrified him, and despite the dangers to himself, he had vowed to himself to free the child, no matter the cost. 

Thankfully, due to the demon’s young age, the priests hadn’t viewed them as much of a threat, and freeing them had been almost comically easy. Sadly, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to outrun his pursuers for long. There were more of them, and they had magic on their side, which Roman sadly lacked. 

His only hope was that he could outrun them for a little bit. Once they were outside of the protective circle of runes he didn't doubt that the child’s parents would come for them. 

Holding his breath, Roman stumbled as he passed the runic barrier. The child he was holding flinched, and let out an involuntary whine. Instantly a shaky sigh of relief left him as he clutched the trembling child even closer, murmuring gentle reassurances to them as he fought back his tears. He ducked behind a tree, huddling down to make himself smaller. 

Roman could hear them getting closer and closer to his hiding place, and desperately, he hoped that the child’s parents would find the two of them in time. Though from the heavy feeling of rage and power he felt quickly forming in the air….

He doubted he wouldn’t have to wait much longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit short, but the next one will be longer.  
> Thank you for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are appreciated!  
> I'm also on tumblr [@light-it-on-fire](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/light-it-on-fire)  
> My writing blog is [@sanders-sides-snippets-n-stories](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/sanders-sides-snippets-n-stories)  
> My asks are always open, and Anon is turned on, come scream at me!


End file.
